Chances are that within the next 12 months you may be called upon to deliver remarks in public. Despite the occasion, there are structural elements to speechwriting that transcend specificities of event, gender and subject. The following components are elements every speech requires:
Structure
Speechwriting is an art that depends on your ability to be succinct without being short; descriptive without becoming pedantic, and; earnest without sounding saccharine or stilted. Speech writing can seem like eating an elephant, and the best way to do that is one bite at a time. Your first bite is developing an outline.
The best approach to crafting remarks is often by creating an undergirding and then building upon that foundation. Similar to a term paper or report, creating a simple outline will allow you to expand in an ordered fashion and help your speech take shape.
An outline, like a tree, has a trunk, branches and leaves. Think of your outline as a tree: In this case, the trunk consists of three basic components:
- Introduction
- Body
- Conclusion
The branches then sprout from the trunk:
- Introduction
- Welcome/Acknowledgment/Greeting
- Identification of the topic/person/event
- Body
- Element 1
- Element 2
- Quote
- Element 3
- Story; Example
- Element 4
- Element 5
- Quote; Story; Example; Advice
- Conclusion
- Summarize the central theme
- Acknowledge the lesson learned/imparted
- Thank you/Expression of Gratitude
Drilling Down | Developing the Body
The body of your speech is where the substance of your remarks are housed. These are your tree’s branches and each story is a leaf, adding beauty, color and depth. This step will probably be the most fun.
The body of a wedding toast delivered by the father of the bride, for example, would include elements like who his daughter was as a child and what events shape her into the woman she has since become. After all, what parent doesn’t love to tell stories about their kid?
Don’t worry about picking the perfect story, just write down whatever comes to mind. Include fun memories, touching moments, and anecdotes about your topic’s spiritual growth and evolution.
At this stage, you don’t even have to write in complete sentences or stick to your own thoughts. Ask your spouse; talk to friends; look to see what a famous person has said about the topic at hand (e.g. marriage, death, graduation, etc.).
Unless it’s a speech involving an infant or someone recently departed, talk to your subject, too. They may have some ideas for what you should say. From there, you will begin to pare down and refine different stories, separating the wheat from the chaff.
Once you have your stories and ideas written, read through them, and pick the one that seems to best fit the occasion. That’s what journalists call a nut graf; it’s the crux of the tale and is the story you will go into detail about.
A Note on Humor
Most personal speeches involve milestones, but it is also a celebration — even eulogies are meant to laud. It’s completely appropriate to include a family-friendly joke or two.
In fact, most personal speeches need some humor to keep the audience engaged. A monologue too sentimental runs the risk of becoming syrupy, just as one devoid of laughter can become stilted.
Be mindful about humor: the boundary between comical and caustic is a fine line that can easily be crossed. It is one thing to share something humorous versus delivering a roast. A laugh at the expense of others is best saved for stag parties.
Write It Out
Once you’ve picked the best stories, quotes you like, and input from friends, family, co-workers, et al., you’re ready to sit down and start writing.
Start in the middle: The rule of thumb for speechwriting is the body should comprise 80% of its content. It’s sometimes difficult to overcome the temptation to start at the beginning, but if need be, draft a filler sentence to hold the place.
For example: “Hello and welcome to this affair. My name is John and let’s get started.” Obviously, your true introduction should be more refined, but if it sets your mind at ease, then do what you must and circle back later.
Using that 80% as your foundation, read it aloud. Using your ears will give you a far better perspective than simply seeing it on paper. It will help you gauge flow. It will also help identify the main thoughts you want to express.
Having identified your main themes, you can summarize them into a sentence or two and use those as the transitions into and out of the body of your speech; this is when you write your introduction and conclusion.
Pro Tip: Craft a good hook for the introduction. Often, a joke that grabs a laugh will set both you and the audience at ease. It’s a truism that laughter is the best medicine. Your ending is a good spot for sentimentality. Some ending concepts for you to think about can include:
- A spiritual passage.
- A meaningful quote.
- The subject’s favorite movie quote or song lyric.
- A religious blessing.
Make this decision only after you’ve written the rest of the piece. You can’t really know how to wrap up the piece until you know what it sounds like.
A Note on “Extemporaneous” Speaking
Pro Tip: Don’t “wing it.” Resist the temptation to just sketch it out or bullet point the basic ideas. You don’t want to get up there and forget your best story or leave out the most important details.
Edit and Rewrite
Read your speech through with a critical ear. You will undoubtedly find words that stop the flow or don’t capture the right tone. Every good piece of writing requires good editing. Here are four easily followed steps for editing a speech:
- Remove anything that doesn’t seem to fit, even if it’s a great story.
- Rewrite any bits that sound awkward or overly formal.
- Reorder sentences that might flow better somewhere else.
- Repeat the process until you’re happy with it.
Brevity
While you could likely write volumes given the time, remember you have an audience. Attention spans are short and most of your listeners are there to celebrate and interact. Save the lecture for a college class.
Keep your speech between 3-5 minutes. Anything exceeding 6-7 minutes is too long. (Rule of thumb: You will speak between 115-130 words per minute.)
Rehearse It … Several Times
Public speaking is an art and the maxim about practice makes perfect holds true here. It’s obvious when people have put time and energy into writing their speeches; similarly, it’s apparent when they haven’t.
Practice your speech in front of family or friends. The more you do this, the more comfortable you will be when the day finally comes. A secondary benefit of all this practice happens when you actually deliver your speech: If you’re comfortable and familiar with what you plan to say, you won’t have to glue your eyes to the page as you speak.
You’ll be able to look at the subject of your speech and all of their gathered friends. You’ll be able to make some memories for yourself. As a bonus, you’ll give off an easy-peasy vibe that makes people remember the speech instead of stuttering or beads of nervous sweat.
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